Metallica...the first time I heard them was the Justice album.
That album simply blew me away!!
The growl from Hetfield, the tight rhythm guitar, the dry snare and wicked double pedal of Ulrich and Hammett's solo...made me pick up guitar playing (especially when I heard one of my senior school mate did the intro of Blackened on an acoustic!! Blew me away that time!)
Borrowed the Puppets album from a friend (those Indonesia pirate version).Wow! Harder and heavier! Then Ride The Lightning..which I felt was a tad lower than Puppets...but who never tried to play Fade To Black on their tong guitars!
Kill 'em All was one album I couldn't dig so much. Maybe they sounded too raw for me back then.
Black album..a commercial success though many die hard find it abit soft. But I like the cleaner production by Bob Rock. At least can hear Newsted's bass!
Then Load and Reload..good hard rock albums per se (though not in the true veins of classic Metallica) I tried hard to like 'em but well..even Megadeth had 'Risk' and 'Cryptic' to play on the mellower side.
St.Anger..no solo and tin drumming. Heard that they supposedly went back to their roots but felt very cheated when I heard the whole album.
I heard the New Song. Must say that I don't quite dig the muddled sound of James guitar. Prefer his Black or Justice tone better.
Let hope for good things for the new album!